- Bonaventura Cerretti
infobox cardinalstyles
cardinal name=Bonaventura Cardinal Cerretti| dipstyle=His Eminence
offstyle=Your Eminence
See=Velletri (suburbicarian see )|"His Most Reverend Eminence" Bonaventura Cardinal Cerretti (17 June 1872 -8 May 1933 ) was a Cardinal of theRoman Catholic Church and was former Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.Bonaventura Cerretti was born in Comune de Bardono,
Italy as the son of Faustino Cerretti and Maria Custodi. Cerretti was educated at theSeminary ofSpoleto and later at thePontifical Gregorian University inRome as well as theRoyal University , Rome.Priesthood
He was ordained on
31 March 1895 inRome . From 1895 until 1899 he did pastoral work in thediocese of Orvieto . He was then invited to become a staff member in theVatican Secretariat of State where he worked from 1899 until 1904. He was created Privy chamberlain of His Holiness on13 January 1904 . He then served as secretary toapostolic delegate inMexico from 1904-1906 then asAuditor in the apostolic delegation to the United States of America from 1906 to 1914.Episcopate
He was appointed as
titular archbishop of "Philippopolis in Thracia" on15 April 1914 byPope Pius X . He was transferred to thetitular see of "Corinth " on10 May 1914 . He was consecrated on19 July 1914 by CardinalRafael Merry del Val ,Cardinal Secretary of State . He was appointed as the first Apostolic delegate inAustralia andNew Zealand in 1914. He represented theHoly See and thus tried to the Great Powers to accept thePeace Note ofPope Benedict XV at theParis Peace Conference inParis from May to June, 1919. He was appointed to serve asNuncio inFrance in 1921.Cardinalate
He was created Cardinal-Priest of "Santa Cecilia" by
Pope Pius XI in the consistory of14 December 1925 . He was appointed asArchpriest of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major on16 July 1930 . Pope Pius appointed him as Prefect of theApostolic Signatura on12 October 1931 . He opted for the order of cardinal bishops, taking thesuburbicarian see ofVelletri on13 March 1933 . Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals, 1933; he died shortly after.In the summer of 1930 in Rome he was painted by his friend the Swiss-born American artist
Adolfo Müller-Ury (1862-1947). The picture is believed to hang in the Palazzo Municipale di Orvieto. See: E. Cerretti, Il Cardinale Bonaventura Cerretti, Rome, 1939, p. 157, and Plate XIII, (opposite p. 368).Death. May 8, 1933, Rome. Buried, basilica of S. Maria in Trastevere, Rome. The chapel at St Patrick's College, Manly in Sydney Australia is named after him. See picture at http://enc.slq.qld.gov.au/slq/neg/research/193000/193473r.jpg
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